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Sunday, 31 January 2016

So I decided to watch the first episode of this series while working. Then I stopped working to watch it properly.

That good?

That BAD

Bagans and his old pal, Billy, were up to their usual bad acting and "let's not let facts get in the way" methods. If that 'psychic' they had on the programme was not a bad actress then I think it proved my point several times over about psychic fakery.

More of "adult content and situations" special effects. Hey, Zack -how many times can we mention the 'killer' (according to his son who is an ex cop and seems obsessed with writing books about his father's alleged crimes -as an ex cop you'd think he might have heard of hard facts and evidence rather than conviction by trying to sell books) had "incestuous sex" with his daughter -and her daughter seems to be thriving on that notoriety- of which he was not convicted?

Sensationalist bull crap from start to finish. In future it isn't even going to be on in the background.

Bury the damn show -because that is what it is: fantasy entertainment.

They depict two intervals from when Jupiter first appears along the
horizon, calculating the planet’s position at 60 and 120 days.

Previously, it was thought that Babylonian astronomers operated
exclusively with arithmetical concepts, but the texts contain
geometrical calculations based on a trapezoid’s area and its “long” and
“short” sides, writes Mathieu Ossendrijver.

Ossendrijver, professor of history of ancient science at the
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, says the ancient astronomers also
computed the time when Jupiter covers half of the 60-day distance by
partitioning the trapezoid into two smaller ones of equal area.

European scholars in Oxford and Paris were previously credited with
developing such calculation in the 14th century, but Ossendrijver
suggests they were far behind their ancient Babylonian counterparts.
“These computations predate the use of similar techniques by medieval European scholars by at least 14 centuries,” he writes.

If you read my books you would know why a "fish with legs" stirs up memories of Canvey Island, UK, Kilwa, Tanzania and other reports of Dead Aquatic 'Humanoid' Creatures!

Weird 'fish with legs' found by New Zealand snorkelers puzzles scientists

An odd specimen found recently by snorkelers in New Zealand is being studied by experts to determine what it is.

The black creature, about 10 inches long, looks something like a fish
with legs but also bears some resemblance to either a bird or a bat.

It was found by family members Claudia Howse, Glenys Howse and James
Beuvink as they were snorkeling close to shore in New Zealand's Bay of
Islands, according to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

Glenys Howse took a photo of the fish and sent it to the museum to
ask for identification, spokeswoman Rebecca Edwards said by email
Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning in New Zealand).

"This weird creature is likely to be a species of Frogfish, but we
won't know until we have a chance to examine it closely!" the museum
said Friday on its Facebook page.
"Frogfishes have the fastest bite of any vertebrate. Their mouths
expand at the speed approaching a .22 rifle bullet - and that's in a
medium 800 (times) denser than air."

Andrew Stewart, the museum's fish expert, said by email that he would
be thawing the specimen later in the day and would have an
identification after examining the head.

The fish was found in about two meters (about six feet) of water
close to shore on the northeast coast of North Island in the Bay of
Islands.

Unbeknownst to the snorkelers, it was included in some kelp that was
collected and put into the live bait well at the back of the boat.

"It was very alive when found but, sadly, it died before it could be
re-housed in the Aquarium at Auckland (Kelly Tarlton's Underwater
World), so it will now 'live on' as a scientific specimen in the
National Fishes Collection held here at the Museum of New Zealand,"
Stewart's email said.

Monday, 25 January 2016

Now, for many decades I've specialised in felids and canids. Canids, particularly foxes, have taken up most of my time. 1977-2007 I was a UK police forces advisor of exotic fauna but also, inevitably, canids in some cases.

So, when I tell someone that foxes have been known to live or sleep in trees, possibly even stash food in trees should I expect the looks or comments that say I'm 'joking' or have no idea what I am talking about?

Also, Wikipedia's entry on foxes, particularly in the UK seems a bit "off" because there were definitely foxes in UK cities prior to World War 2 as my book Red Paper: Canids shows. But who am I to question Wikipedia?

But foxes are great at leaping and if a domestic dog can climb a wall or wire fence to get out of a garden then you can be sure a fox can. I've seen then shoot up a 7feet high obstacle with a mouth full of sausage rolls!

Here are some photos to prove a point -all (c) respective copyright holders!

Below: I think a lot of people have seen or heard of foxes sunning themselves on shed rooves or on top of house extensions, however, some will not believe foxes can get onto roof houses. They do. If there is a way up there -shed, wall, out house or even a tree then do not be surprised: cats get on rooves, too, you know!

Below: Come on -it was a sunny day and, really? All that exertion to CLIMB a tree? Why....not...just...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

__________________________________________________________________________
PLEASE SUPPORT THE NATIONAL FOX WELFARE SOCIETY

The National Fox Welfare Society A voluntary organisation dedicated to the UK Fox Population www.nfws.org.uk www.nfws.org.uk/mange

Long description

National Fox Welfare Society have been in existence now for over 20 years dedicated to helping foxes across the UK. If you need mange treatment for a fox that you are feeding in your garden please visit our website www.nfws.org.uk
and follow the links to our mange treatment section. We send it out
free of charge so please just fill in our Free Mange Treatment Request
form

Thursday, 21 January 2016

I think some of these scientists need to seriously....read a book. That the results came as a surprise to them shows a real ignorance of life in pre and Roman Britain and after. Hamian archers from Syria, Numidian archers and cavalry from North Africa. Britons joining the Roman army would be posted in Israel or some other far off land -mainly to prevent rebellion back home. North Africans and Middle Eastern auxilliaries in Britain and Europe. And there is even more.

This from the National Archives web site.

Black Romans

The Multicultural Roman Empire

Our knowledge of Black people present in Britain in early
times is scanty. However, studies by scholars, archaeologists
and historians have pieced together evidence about the lives
of Black Romans.

One historian, Anthony Birley, in his work The African
Emperor: Septimius Severus, explains that between AD 193
and 211 the Roman empire embraced a multicultural mix of peoples
from Syria, Germany, Britain, Spain and Africa. Eight African
men had positions of command in the northern Roman legions,
and others held high rank as equestrian officers.

One of these Africans was Emperor Septimius Severus (AD 145-211).
He arrived in Britain in AD 203 and when he died in AD 211 he
was cremated in York (Eboracum), the capital of Roman Britain.

An African Emperor - Septimius Severus (AD 145-211)

Septimius Severus was the first Roman emperor not born and
raised in Italy. His father's family originally came from
Libya (Leptis Magna) and his mother's family were Etruscans
(Italian). His grandfather, a knight of the Roman empire,
owned land near Rome, but Septimius grew up in North Africa
with his father.

Septimius married Julia Domna, a Syrian, daughter of a high
priest. The name Domna is derived from the archaic Arabic
word dumayna, meaning 'black'. Septimius and Julia
had two sons, Caracalla, the elder, born in AD 188, and Geta.

Because Septimius's ancestors were Roman citizens, he was
entitled to be educated in Rome. He briefly practised as a
lawyer, became a Roman senator, and from the age of 24 took
part in campaigns in Spain, Syria, Gaul, Sicily and Athens.
He spent much time extending Rome's borders eastwards across
the Tigris in Mesopotamia and the Balkans. His education and
experience won him strong support within the empire. He was
described by contemporaries such as the famous physician Galen
and the historians Herodian and Cassius Dio as 'a man of such
energy...wise and successful...that he left no battle
except as victor'.

In AD 193, following the assassination
of Emperor Pertinax, Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor.

Later, when the Caledonians (inhabitants of what is now Scotland)
invaded Roman Britain in AD 208, Septimius travelled to this
most western part of the Roman Empire. He made this remote
region a separate province, under the commander of the Sixth
Legion stationed at York, and launched an attack into Scotland.

Nearly a century earlier, around AD 122, the Emperor Hadrian
(AD 117-38) had fortified the northern border of Roman Britain
by building a defensive wall. However, Hadrian's Wall had
been abandoned by a later governor of Roman Britain, Clodius
Albinus, and the undefended frontier was overrun by the Caledonians.

Emperor Septimius spent the last years of his life reorganising
Britain's northern border. In AD 197 he ordered the reconstruction
of Hadrian's Wall, and in AD 208 the Romans once more took
control of the wall. However, the region was abandoned again
after his son Caracalla succeeded him as Emperor in AD 211.

Coins from AD 208 depict Septimius riding off to war, but
due to a painful condition in his legs or feet (probably gout
or arthritis) he was carried for most of the journey. During
the winter of AD 210-11, his condition worsened, and he died
at York in AD 211. His body was cremated, and his ashes -
carried in an urn of porphyry (a purple-and-white stone reserved
for imperial rulers) - were taken back to his homeland, Libya.

The DNA from seven Roman-era skeletons found in York, England indicate the Roman Empire included both locals and immigrants.

Six of the skulls contained DNA matching people living in modern-day
Wales, Trinity College Dublin geneticist Dan Bradley and his colleagues
said in a paper published this week in the Nature Communications
journal.

That wasn’t too surprising, but the researchers were interested to
find that the seventh skull’s DNA matched from the modern-day Middle
East.

The results came from DNA preserved in dense inner ear bones, and
were confirmed with analysis of chemical signatures in the skeleton’s
teeth.

“This Near Eastern chap really, really stands out. He was from
somewhere arid and hot,” said Gundula Müldner of the University of
Reading, who performed the chemical analysis. “Where he fits best is the
Nile Valley or an environment like that—we can’t pinpoint it exactly,
but somewhere in the Near East.”
Experts said the latest findings may be the first DNA evidence of the
Roman Empire’s cosmopolitan character, showing how even non-elite
Romans traveled great distances.

“It confirms the cosmopolitan character of the Roman Empire even at
its most northerly extent,” said professor Matthew Collins, of the
BioArCh research facility in the Department of Archaeology at York, who
co-ordinated the scientific analysis, in a statement.

“This is the first refined genomic evidence for far-reaching ancient
mobility and also the first snapshot of British genomes in the early
centuries AD, indicating continuity with an Iron Age sample before the
migrations of the Anglo-Saxon period.”

Previous analysis of the skeletons indicated that they may have been
gladiators or soldiers, and that some of the men grew up in colder
climates, perhaps Germany or further east in continental Europe. It also
showed that the men had poor childhood health and that many had brown
eyes and black or brown hair, while one had blue eyes and blond hair.

A team of researchers led by Dr. Kevin Richard Butt found dew worms (Lumbricus terrestris) that have an average weight of 11.6 grams, with some specimens reaching 12.6 grams.

Some of the worms got to be as long as 15.6 inches (39.6 cm), which is about three times the length of a normal earthworm.

Experts say the worms have flourished on Rùm island due to a lack of predators and rich soil.

Dr. Butt told the BBC: “These things weigh about twelve and a half grams – but the normal size for these things is about four to five gram.”

“When these things came out of their burrows they were like small snakes.”

Elaborating to the U.K. Telegraph, Dr. Butt said the worms are a significant member of the island’s ecosystem.

He noted, “Without their activities we’d be a lot worse off. They’re just as important as bees are in pollinating plants. They help aerate the soil and drain away water and stop surface erosion. These things have just have been left and have grown bigger and bigger.”

Dr. Butt’s findings were published in Scottish peer-reviewed scientific journal, The Glasgow Naturalist.

Google Maps

“I first noticed the large worm burrows in 2005, so I had my suspicions that there may be some pretty big worms in the area. We went back out to investigate the following year and finding worms of this size was very exciting, especially when the Natural History Museum team confirmed that they had no specimens like this,” he explained on the university’s website.

“There are still unanswered questions and we plan to continue our research to find out as much as possible about these creatures. We’re also looking forward to exploring more rural areas in the UK and abroad, in the hope that we will make more exciting discoveries of this nature.”

My late colleague Franklyn Davin-Wilson would be jumping up and down, pointing at me and shouting "Nyah! Nyah! In your face!" -or something similar.

But this IS exciting news.

New evidence suggests a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system

This artistic rendering shows the distant view from Planet Nine back towards the sun. The planet is thought to be gaseous, similar to Uranus and Neptune. Hypothetical lightning lights up the night side.

Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced Wednesday that they have found new evidence of a giant icy planet lurking in the darkness of our solar system far beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are calling it "Planet Nine."

Their paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, describes the planet as about five to 10 times as massive as the Earth. But the authors, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, have not observed the planet directly.

Instead, they have inferred its existence from the motion of recently discovered dwarf planets and other small objects in the outer solar system. Those smaller bodies have orbits that appear to be influenced by the gravity of a hidden planet – a "massive perturber." The astronomers suggest it might have been flung into deep space long ago by the gravitational force of Jupiter or Saturn.

Telescopes on at least two continents are searching for the object, which on average is 20 times farther away than the eighth planet, Neptune. If "Planet Nine" exists, it's big. Its estimated mass would make it about two to four times the diameter of the Earth, distinguishing it as the fifth-largest planet after Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. But at such extreme distances, it would reflect so little sunlight that it could evade even the most powerful telescopes.

Confirmation of its existence would reconfigure the models of the solar system. Pluto, discovered in 1930, spent three-quarters of a century as the iconic ninth planet. Then, a decade ago, Pluto received a controversial demotion, in large part because of Brown.

His observations of the outer solar system identified many small worlds there – some close to the size of Pluto –and prompted the International Astronomical Union to reconsider the definition of a planet. The IAU voted to change Pluto's classification to "dwarf planet," a decision mocked repeatedly last summer when NASA's New Horizons probe flew past Pluto and revealed a world with an atmosphere, weather and a volatile and dynamically reworked surface.

Brown, who tweets under the handle @plutokiller and who wrote the book "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming," said now may be the time to rewrite the textbooks yet again.

"My daughter, she's still kind of mad about Pluto being demoted, even though she was barely born at that time," Brown said. "She suggested a few years ago that she'd forgive me if I found a new planet. So I guess I've been working on this for her."

NASA's director of planetary science, Jim Green, cautioned Wednesday that there could be other explanations for the observed motion of the small bodies in the outer solar system. He referenced the famous dictum from Carl Sagan that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

But he said he was personally excited about the new research: "What an era we're in, where we’re discovering new things about our solar system that we never thought possible even a handful of years ago."

Brown and Batygin initially set out to prove that Planet Nine didn't exist. Their paper builds on earlier research by two other astronomers that revealed a peculiar clustering of the small, icy objects discovered in the past decade or so in the remote regions of the solar system.

In 2014, Scott Sheppard of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution of Science and Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii published a paper in the journal Nature that discussed the potential existence of a giant planet affecting the orbits of those dwarf worlds. Sheppard and Trujillo noted a similarity in the motion of those bodies when they are closest to the sun.

"We thought their idea was crazy," Brown said, explaining that extra planets are always the "go-to suggestion" when astronomers find orbital behavior they can't explain. But he and Batygin struggled to debunk that hypothetical ninth planet. They used mathematical equations and then computer models, ultimately concluding that the best explanation for the smaller objects' clustering was the gravitational effects of something far bigger.

Such clustering is similar to what's seen in some asteroids that are about as close to the sun as the Earth. They wind up in stable orbits that keep them far from Earth and free from any significant disturbance by the Earth's gravity.

"Until then, we didn't really believe our results ourselves. It just didn't make sense to us," Brown said. But their modeling showed that a planet with 10 times the mass of Earth would exert an influence over the orbits of the smaller bodies and keep them from coming as close to the sun as they should. It would also slowly twist these orbits by 90 degrees, making them periodically perpendicular to the plane of the solar system.

"In the back of my head, I had this nagging memory that someone had found some of these modulating objects and not known what to make of them," Brown said. "And sure enough, these objects do exist. And they were exactly where our theory predicts they should be."

That's when the Caltech researchers started to take Planet Nine seriously. "That was the real jaw-dropping moment, when it went from a cute little idea to something that might be for real," he said.

Sheppard, who co-wrote the paper that Brown and Batygin set out to disprove, says the existence of a hidden planet is still a big unknown. "Until we actually see it for real, it will always be questionable as to whether it exists," he said, cautioning that the latest calculations are based on a relatively small number of known objects and that further observations and detections of perturbed bodies would bolster the hypothesis.

Still, Sheppard significantly upped the odds of discovery – from 40 percent before to 60 percent now. “Some people took it seriously, but a lot of people didn’t," he said of his own study's findings. "With this new work, it’s much more rigorous, and people will take it more seriously now.”

Brown said he puts the odds of Planet Nine being real as "maybe 90 percent."

From the Côte d'Azur Observatory in Nice, France, planetary scientist Alessandro Morbidelli agreed that the evidence was stronger this time. "I immediately felt that this paper, for the first time, was providing convincing evidence for a new planet in the solar system," said Morbidelli, an expert in these kinds of orbital movements who was not involved in either study. "I don't see any alternative explanation to that offered by Batygin and Brown."

"We will find it one day," he added. "The question is when."

The past two decades have seen a burst of discoveries as astronomers have scrutinized the light of distant stars and looked for signs of orbiting planets. More than a thousand such planets have been detected through analysis of starlight that has traveled across the vast interstellar distances. Brown and Batygin, however, have been searching closer to home, looking for objects that orbit the sun and remain unseen only because the outer regions of the solar system are exceedingly dark.

The thought of a hidden planet larger than Earth is intriguing, but for now it's difficult to say too much about the hypothetical conditions there. Brown believes it's probably an icy, rocky world with a small envelope of gas – a planet that could have been the core of a gas giant had it not been ejected into a wonky, highly elliptical orbit. It might not make its closest approach of the sun more than once every 10,000 years, and even then it would remain far beyond the known planets.

The situation mimics what happened in the 19th century when careful observation of the seventh planet, Uranus, indicated that there must be another body in far-distant space influencing its orbit. That work led eventually to the discovery of Neptune.

It would be difficult to see the ninth planet if it's not at or near its closest approach to the sun. Brown doesn't believe the object is at that point, saying it would have been spotted by now. But he does think that the most powerful telescopes on the planet, if pointed in precisely the right direction, might be able to detect it even when it is most distant from the sun.

"We've been looking for it for a while now, but the sky is pretty big," Brown said. "We know its path, but not where it is on that path."

He and Batygin hope their paper's publication will infuse the search with new energy. "If other people – better astronomers – get excited about the idea of finding Planet Nine, we could hopefully see it within a couple of years," he said.

The two know they may not get credit for that discovery. Until the planet is spotted directly with a telescope, any work surrounding it is theoretical. Brown, Batygin and other scientists who have made the case for Planet Nine's existence are providing treasure maps and clues – but someone else could very well strike gold before they do.

If and when it's spotted, Planet Nine would be evaluated by the same criteria that got Pluto demoted. Brown isn't concerned about that.

"That's not even a question -- it's definitely a planet," he said. One of the trickiest criteria for planet status, based on the standards set by the International Astronomical Union, is that a planet must "clear the neighborhood" around its orbital zone. It needs to have the gravitational prowess to change the orbits of other objects.

"Planet Nine is forcing any objects that cross its orbit to push into these misaligned positions. It fits that concept perfectly," Brown said.

The "Pluto killer" added: "Not to mention the fact that it's 5,000 times the mass of Pluto."

On 20 January, all five bright planets – Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – will appear in a line, visible to the
naked eye.

FROM 20 JANUARY to 20 February, all five visible planets will sit
in a line from the horizon to the moon - for the first time since 2005.

Dr Alan Duffy, research fellow at Swinburne University in Melbourne,
said that this reasonably rare alignment is “essentially a quirk” of the
universe. All the planets sit on a flat plane but have different yearly
cycles – so for all five visible planets to happen to line up is
“something well worth seeing,” he said.

According to Dr Tanya Hill, senior curator at the Melbourne
Planetarium, there will be another chance to view the planets lined up
in August, but then not again until October 2018.

From Wednesday 20 January, star gazers will have a 5.30am-5.40am AEDT
(Australian Eastern Daylight Time) window to get the best view of the
alignment.

Venus and Jupiter will be easiest to see and Mars, while a little harder, will have a distinctive red glow to look out for.

“The big challenge will be Mercury,” said Alan. Because Mercury is so
close to the horizon, there is only a small time period when it has
appeared before the sun comes up. Tall buildings and trees could also
block your view of the final planet.

Alan’s advice is to find as clear a horizon as possible and, most
importantly, a dark sky. While it isn’t impossible in the city, light
pollution and sky scrapers will make the viewing much harder.

The alignment will be visible from 20 January until 20 Feburary and
Alan suggests to go out on more than one day to watch the event if you
don’t quite catch it the first time.

“There are only a few amazing things in the night sky that can be
seen without any equipment,” Alan said, adding that it is worth the
early morning rise.

Tips

The alignment will be visible to the naked eye from 20 January from 5.30am-5.45am AEDT until 20 February 5am-6am AEDT.

Hold your arm up in a straight line from the horizon to the moon and the planets should fall along that line.

Try to find a flat horizon and a dark sky.

Don’t give up! It may take more than one early morning to see the full alignment.

Friday, 15 January 2016

The
The German Study Group of Sub-Human Primates site has not been up-dated since 2011 and my emails keep bouncing back. Sadly, I think it fair to say the group must now be defunct. Anyone knows any differently please let me know.

Still a couple weeks until the deadline for any reports of "British Wild Men". Anonymous reports are never accepted, though none has been received by me. People I have contacted regarding alleged photo evidence are either not responding or refuse to allow their images to be scrutinised -particularly photographs of alleged wild men.

It does not look good. You ask for "the experts to look at the evidence" and then refuse to cooperate you have no reason for complaint when results are announced.

This is AOP blog is public with a world wide audience including naturalists and other professionals but guarantees strict confidentiality. The offer is still open.

Humans visited Arctic earlier than thought

Weapon marks found on mammoth bones dating to 45,000 years ago

EARLY ARCTIC HUNTERS
Mammoth remains (left) dating to 45,000 years ago and found in Arctic
Siberia show signs of hunting injuries (right) premortem (red arrows)
and postmortem (blue arrows). The discovery puts humans in the Arctic
earlier than previously thought.

A frozen mammoth carcass in Siberia hints that humans roamed the Arctic earlier than researchers had thought.

Cuts and scrapes on the mammoth’s bones came from human hunting weapons. And dating of the bones puts humans well north of the Arctic Circle 45,000 years ago, scientists report in the Jan. 15 Science. Researchers had assumed that humans didn’t reach the Arctic until between 30,000 and 35,000 years ago.

The
find shows that humans worked out how to cope with the Arctic’s extreme
cold and sunless winters much earlier than experts thought, says Robin
Dennell, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Sheffield in England
who wasn’t involved in the work.

At 66.32° N latitude, the Arctic Circle skims the top of Canada and Russia.

FATAL THROW A gash on one of the mammoth’s rib bones likely came from a hunting spear and caused a lethal injury.

V. Pitulko et al/Science 2016

Except
for one site in eastern Siberia, also reported by the team in the new
paper, other far-north archaeological sites 40,000 years or older sit
around 55° N, just south of the Arctic Circle.

“The mammoth is
almost 72° North,” says paper coauthor Vladimir Pitulko, an
archaeologist at the Institute for the History of Material Culture of
the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. That’s a huge
latitudinal difference between the old human habitation sites south of
the Arctic Circle and the new mammoth find well north of it — about
1,700 kilometers, he says.

The team pulled the mammoth, a
15-year-old male, from a frozen coastal bluff in the central Siberian
Arctic. Carbon dating of the surrounding sediment and of a leg bone
pinned the mammoth’s age at 45,000 years old.

Marks on one of the
animal’s tusks and slices on many of its bones were similar to patterns
on mammoth bones from a younger Siberian archaeological site where
humans hunted mammoths, the researchers found. Human weapons such as
spears probably caused the damage that killed the mammoth.

Humans
entering the Arctic by 45,000 years ago is “a mighty, impressive
achievement,” Dennell says. “What we don't know is whether this was a
successful long-term adaptation or a short-lived heroic failure.”

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Someone, who really has no idea and knows NOTHING about me, said that
maybe my book Red Paper: Canids was a disappointment to me because it
never made me any money?

Firstly, there is over 40 years of research in
the book so it does NOT disappoint me.

Make ME money? That was never
the intention. Any profits were to go to the UK Wolf Conservation Trust which does a LOT of educational work including with schools and The National Fox Welfare Society
who do things like give advice on sick or injured foxes and FREE mange
treatment.

I am only disappointed (almost ashamed really) in that I
have been unable to contribute to these two organisations.

Terry Hooper

The Red Paper: Canids

Paperback,

A4 (21 x 30cms)

202 Pages

Photographs, illustrations and maps

Price:
£10.29

Ships in 3–5 business days

By the 1700s the British fox was on the verge of extinction and about to
follow the bear and wolf having been hunted for sport for centuries.

The answer was to import thousands of foxes per year for sport. But
foxes kept dying out so jackals were tried. Some were caught, some
escaped. Even wolves and coyote were released for hunting and "country
folk" were very far from "happy" -some even threatening local hunts -one
intending to release a wolf for a hunt- with legal and other
consequences.

The summation of over 40 years research by the noted naturalist and
former UK police forces exotic wildlife consultant reveals the damnable
lie of
"pest control" hunting but also reveals the cruelty the animals were
subject to and how private menageries as well as travelling shows.

Private menageries, or single exotic "pets" as well as travelling shows helped
provide the British and Irish countryside with some incredible events
such as the 1905 "vampiric" sheep killer of Badminton, the mystery
hounds of Cavan and Coyotes of Epping Forest.

The Girt Dog of Ennerdale
is also dealt with in detail -was it a tiger? A Tasmania Thylacine? This
book gives the exact facts and details for the first time.

Up-dated 2013 edition includes
a section on sarcoptic mange in foxes and treatment plus a list of
wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres in the UK.

I have to say that if -IF- a natural cause for the Wow! Signal was found it might seem sad but, again, you have to dismiss the false data to get to the True data.

A lot of Signals from Space that the AOP Bureau under Franklyn Angus Davin-Wilson looked into did have natural causes because planetary noise, pulsars and so on were not known at the time. However, I have to agree that I am doubtful because of the hydrogen factor. I can't see this being correct but....

Famous Wow! signal might have been from comets, not aliens

On 15 August 1977, radio astronomers using the Big Ear radio
telescope at Ohio State University picked up a powerful signal from
space. Some believe it was our first interception of an alien broadcast.
Now it seems something closer to home may have been the source: a pair
of passing comets.

Searchers for extraterrestrial transmissions
have long considered it an auspicious place to look, as it is one of
the main frequencies at which atoms of hydrogen, the most common element
in the universe, absorb and emit energy. What’s more, this frequency
easily penetrates the atmosphere.

But in the 40 years since, we’ve never heard anything like it again.
Analysis of the signal ruled out a satellite, and a reflected signal
from the Earth’s surface is unlikely because regulations forbid
transmission in that frequency range.

The signal’s intensity rose and fell over the course of 72 seconds,
which is the length of time that the Big Ear could keep an object in its
field of view due to the rotation of the Earth. That meant it was
clearly coming from space. So what was it?

Antonio Paris, a professor of astronomy at St Petersburg College in
Florida, thinks the signal might have come from one or more passing
comets. He points the finger at two suspects, called 266P/Christensen
and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs). “I came across the idea when I was in my car
driving and wondered if a planetary body, moving fast enough, could be
the source,” he says.

Hydrogen clouds

Comets release a lot of hydrogen as they swing around the sun. This
happens because ultraviolet light breaks up their frozen water, creating
a cloud of the gas extending millions of kilometres out from the comet
itself.

If the comets were passing in front of the Big Ear in 1977, they
would have generated an apparently short-lived signal, as the telescope
(now dismantled) had a fixed field of view. Searching that same area –
as subsequent radio telescopes did – wouldn’t show anything. Tracing the
comets’ positions back in time, Paris says that the possible origin for
the Wow! signal falls right between where they would have been.

Neither comet was known in 1977; they were both discovered in the
last decade, which would mean nobody would have thought to search for
them. The odds of any telescope catching them in the region of the Wow!
signal by chance were vanishingly small.

To test his idea, Paris proposes looking at the same region of space
when the comets are back. Comet 266P/Christensen will transit the region
first, on 25 January 2017, then P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs), on 7 January 2018.
An analysis of the hydrogen signal of the comets should reveal if he is
correct.

Doubts signalled

Some researchers are sceptical, saying it isn’t clear the comets
would release enough hydrogen to generate something like the Wow!
signal. James Bauer
of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, agrees that
the hydrogen from comets can extend quite far, but still thinks the
signal won’t be strong enough. “If comets were radio-bright at 21
centimetres, I would be puzzled as to why they aren’t observed more
often at those wavelengths,” he says.

Paris says future observations will determine whether he is right.
One crucial piece of evidence will be how fast the comets move across
the sky. Too slow, and the Big Ear would have seen another signal 24
hours later as they rolled back into view, unlike the solo blast of the
Wow! signal. “The hypothesis must be tested before it is ruled out,” he
says. “Science 101.”

Journal reference: To appear in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, preprint

(Image credit: The Ohio State University Radio Observatory and the North American Astrophysical Observatory (NAAPO)

Some great photos from NASA JPL. I'll say the bright spots are Cereseans with laser pointers!

New Details on Ceres Seen in Dawn Images

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres. Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Features on dwarf planet Ceres
that piqued the interest of scientists throughout 2015 stand out in
exquisite detail in the latest images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which
recently reached its lowest-ever altitude at Ceres.

Dawn took these images near its current altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers) from Ceres, between Dec. 19 and 23, 2015.

Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres, shows off many
fascinating attributes at the high image resolution of 120 feet (35
meters) per pixel. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim,
which could be salts, and its flat floor likely formed from impact melt
and debris. Researchers will be looking closely at whether this material
is related to the "bright spots" of Occator Crater. Kupalo, which
measures 16 miles (26 kilometers) across and is located at southern
mid-latitudes, is named for the Slavic god of vegetation and harvest.

"This crater and its recently-formed deposits will be a prime target
of study for the team as Dawn continues to explore Ceres in its final
mapping phase," said Paul Schenk, a Dawn science team member at the
Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Dawn's low vantage point also captured the dense network of fractures
on the floor of 78-mile-wide (126-kilometer-wide) Dantu Crater. One of
the youngest large craters on Earth's moon, called Tycho, has similar
fractures. This cracking may have resulted from the cooling of impact
melt, or when the crater floor was uplifted after the crater formed.

A 20-mile (32-kilometer) crater west of Dantu is covered in steep
slopes, called scarps, and ridges. These features likely formed when the
crater partly collapsed during the formation process. The curvilinear
nature of the scarps resembles those on the floor of Rheasilvia, the
giant impact crater on protoplanet Vesta, which Dawn orbited from 2011
to 2012.

Dawn's other instruments also began studying Ceres intensively in
mid-December. The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer is examining
how various wavelengths of light are reflected by Ceres, which will
help identify minerals present on its surface.

Dawn's gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) is also keeping
scientists busy. Data from GRaND help researchers understand the
abundances of elements in Ceres' surface, along with details of the
dwarf planet's composition that hold important clues about how it
evolved.

The spacecraft will remain at its current altitude for the rest of
its mission, and indefinitely afterward. The end of the prime mission
will be June 30, 2016.

"When we set sail for Ceres upon completing our Vesta exploration, we
expected to be surprised by what we found on our next stop. Ceres did
not disappoint," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn
mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"Everywhere we look in these new low- altitude observations, we see
amazing landforms that speak to the unique character of this most
amazing world."

Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first
mission outside the Earth-moon system to orbit two distinct solar system
targets. After orbiting Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, it
arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015.

Dawn's mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's
Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the
directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn
mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and
built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute
for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National
Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.
For a complete list of mission participants, visit:

Monday, 11 January 2016

The one thing you find while trawling through newspaper archives are stories that have absolutely nothing to do with what you are looking for. However, these stories pique your curiosity and they are little windows into the past that you would never normally get a chance to look through.

There are, of course, reports of murders, great cruelty to other humans but also -sadly- to animals simply because they are animals and what better way to have 'sport' and 'fun' than running down a badger or feeding hedgehogs poison to see whether it is true that none affect them.

Then you have cases like that of Phenix Adams.

Phenix Adams was a Private in the First Somerset Militia and, as you'll read below, sought medical aid for an ulcerated wound in the arm. Help was denied and Phenix deserted but was caught but while in gaol another wound appeared on his leg. All self inflicted or "occasioned by his own contrivance". But then he fell down some stairs and blood poured from his ears.

After that, Adams slipped into a coma -at first the only conclusion the doctors could make was "fakery". They tried all the tricks but it appears Adams was not faking. The last written about Adams was that "The man now remains in the same state of mental insensibility."

That was it. I can trace no more of Adams. Was he really causing problems by tampering with an old wound? Then self-inflicting a new wound? And the "fall" -did he pass out and you cannot really fake blood coming from your ears -a self inflicted cut in either ear wouldn't go unnoticed, especially if blood was "pouring out" and then the gradual slip into a coma -and it seems the doctors tried every trick to prove a hoax or medicate him.

First thing I thought was hemorrhagic fever of some kind? Without being able to find and read the notes of the doctors at the time we will never know. Phenix Adams was declared a faker, deserter and genuine medical mystery all in one newspaper column.

The Taunton Courier for 1811 lists:

1811 18Jul Adams Phenis - private 1st Somerset Regiment wound

So, we're not even sure whether the name is "Phenis" or "Phenix"...here is the originalo item picked up and published by The Liverpool Mercury, 16th August, 1811

Now,once I get the whiff of a puzzle or mystery I stick with it. After all, I doubt I can afford 30-40 years to solve cases at my age!

So I dug and dug and then succeeded -don't ask how because one mention leads to nothing which then...you get the point? Somerset and Dorset Notes & Queries Volume 12 - Page 339:

A Somerset Militia Man - From "The Times" of Saturday,
Sept 14, 1811.

"Our readers will recollect a statement respecting a soldier
of the First Somersetshire Militia, who had lain in a very surprising state
of insensibility from the 26th of April, in the present year, down to the 18th
of July. Various means had been resorted to for the purpose of ascertaining
whether the illness was real, such as thrusting snuff up his nostrils, administering
nitrous oxide gas, electrical shocks, powerful medicines, etc, all of which
proved utterly unavailing in the attempt to arouse him from the unaccountable
torpor in which he had laid so long ; nor, indeed, did any of these expediants
produce in him the slightest symptoms of animation.

We have now to add to this account a few facts, which, for there singularity,
may challenge competition with the most marvellous occurrence that ever reached
the public notice.

A few days after our account appeared, Phineas ADAMS, the subject of this curious
narrative, and whose age was no more than 'eighteen', on the 6th of June last,
was removed from the goal in which he then was, to the parish of Bickenhall,
a small village seven miles from Taunton. His parents residing at that place,
but being unable to recieve him in there own habitation, Adams was lodged in
the poor-house - a small cottage adjoining the churchyard. In this situation
he continued to be without exhibiting the least evidence of an improving condition.

In this hopeless condition, he was visited by Mr. WELSH, surgeon of Taunton,
who suggested the propriety of performing the operation of 'scalping' the patient,
with a view to ascertain whether the fall, to which the illness was attributed,
might not have produced a depression of the brain. The proposal was communicated
to the parents of Adams, who expressed there willingness that the experiment
should be made. Accordingly, at the time appointed, the surgeon accompanied
Adams's father to the bedside of his son, and there, in the presence of several
respectable persons, described to both the young man's parents the nature and
precise course of operation about to be performed. The incisions were made,
the scalp drawn up, and the head examined ; during all which time the young
man manifested no audible sympton of pain, or sensibility of suffering whatever,
until the application of an instrument, with which the head was scraped in a
particular part, and then, and once only, he uttered a groan.

No beneficial result appearing from this experiment, and as his case seemed
absolutely remediless, application was made to his regiment for his discharge.

On Tuesday, August 20, the discharge arrived, and was taken over to Bickenhall
by the sergeant. On the Tuesday following, old Adams brought his son downstairs
in his arms ; and on the 28th he again brought him down, the son still remaining
insensible. Next night (the 29th) he was seen sitting in the poor-house, with
a gun in his hand, conversing with his father ; and on Friday, the 30th (our
readers will participate with us in the complete astonishment excited by the
fact) he was at Mr PALMER's a farmer, two miles from Bickenhall, cutting spars,
carrying reed up a ladder, and assisting his father in thatching a rick!

The extraordinary rapidity of this young man's recovery, after obtaining his
discharge from his regiment, having excited, in combination with the other circumstances
which we formerly stated, an opinion that imposition had been practised, some
of the neighbours reported that a press-gang was coming for him. This, it is
supposed, having reached his ears, he absconded, and not a syllable has been
heard of him since. . . . "

Was it possible -had Phineas Adams faked it all? Eight days after the military discharge Phineas was still being carried downstairs by his father and was, supposedly, still insensible. What of the reed cutting and carrying? Surely what the doctors were putting him through was worse than military life?

Whatever, this is a fascinating story and shows what I can get side-tracked with during a day. Damn but I can't ignore a mystery!

Sunday, 10 January 2016

I was asked, rather sarcastically, "Had any British Bigfoot reports yet, then?"

Well, the response to that question is a resounding "No". Obviously the guarantee of confidentiality hasn't been much use as a couple people I contacted regarding photographs of broken tree limbs, "knocking sticks" and what they claim might be a wildman/bigfoot in the distance have refusede to respond.

Now, I made the publicly open offer to look at any material or evidence with an open mind and this should have encouraged the people who keep screaming that "science will not look at our evidence!" but they seem to failto understand that if you do not provide your evidence then science cannot examine it.

If I wanted to treat the subject fairly then I would need to use example photographs to make a point or a photo of a footprint and so on. I cannot. Why? Because every photo of a twisted, broken or damaged branch or tree, or location or a stick has a big "C" (copyright) on it. I abide by the laws and rules of publishing as well as image use.

I cannot have copies to use? Can I be taken to the area in question? NO! "We/I've secured the site and am not revealing its location".....HOW do you "secure" common land? And I am NOT allowed to know the location which is odd because my head contains some very special site locations that if I revealed them WOULD cause major problems for the wildlife involved. Information and locations from police, farmers, forest rangers and wardens and many others over 40 years. But I cannot be told the location of a broken tree branch?

In fact, reading one account of "sounds" has told me that a certain animal only a very few people know about is still there and doing well -the location is spot on, too. So, in a way, this has had some interesting results for me.

The lack of any cooperation of "British Wildman" people speaks volumes. However, I am still determined to read or look at any evidence but the 31st January deadline still remains. After that I base my report on what I have seen so far and I doubt in the future any other naturalist will be anywhere as willing as I am to look at evidence.

Could Nessie the Loch Ness Monster be a giant, 15-foot Eel? (Probably not)

The
Loch Ness Monster is again in the news, as a Scotsman says his 2007
footage probably was not of the famed sea monster, but actually shows a
10-15 foot (3- 4.5 meter) giant eel. This too is unlikely. There is only
one type of eel in Loch Ness, and it grows at the very most to 5 feet
(1.5 meters). There have been reports of 7- to 9-foot (2.1-2.7 meter)
eels taken in Loch Ness, but these dimensions seem to defy science.

Loch Ness is long at 22.5 miles (32 kilometers) and deep at 755 feet
(230 meters), so many people who’ve claimed to have sighted the monster
have said it has plenty of places to hide. Loch Ness contains more fresh
water than all the lakes and in England and Wales combined.

The Scottish press is reporting that the mystery of the latest footage of Nessie, from 2007, has been solved. The Scotsman writes:

“The man who filmed some of the most famous footage of Nessie has admitted it could have been a giant eel. Gordon
Holmes, who filmed jet-black shapes moving in Loch Ness from the
roadside in 2007, agrees a U.S. computer expert who analyzed the footage
has likely solved the mystery. Mr. Holmes, of Shipley, in West
Yorkshire, now believes the creatures are eels between 10ft and 15ft
long. The retired university technician has visited Loch Ness six times
in the past. His two-minute video, shot from a layby on the A82, showed a
long black shape moving just under the surface of the water. It made
headlines around the world, but many expressed doubt.”

But this too has to be taken with a grain of salt. The largest eels
are moray eels that grow to 10 to 12 feet (2 to 3 meters). And moray
eels are not freshwater fish. They live in the ocean. There is a type of
eel that grows in Loch Ness—the European eel or Anguilla anguilla that grows to, at the utmost, 5 feet or 1.5 meters. However, it is usually much shorter than that, about half the size.

Bill Appleton,
owner of a software company in the United States, stabilized the
footage of the “eel” and sent it to a paranormal website. Holmes says
the stabilized video proves he saw a giant eel.

The Press and Journal
reported Holmes as saying: “After several estimations, I believe the
creatures were approximately 12ft [3.7 meters] long. Since eels do
appear strange, ancient, scary-like beasties that may explain several of
the Loch Ness sightings over the centuries.”

Some people truly believe a monster inhabits Loch Ness in the
Scottish Highlands. Popular interest and belief in the animal's
existence has varied since it was first reported in 1933 and made famous
by a photograph supposedly taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson in 1934,
depicted below.

Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and
much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. The most common
speculation among believers is that the creature represents a line of
long-surviving plesiosaurs, a Mesozoic marine reptile.

However, the scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster,
affectionately known as ‘Nessie’, as a modern-day myth, and often
explains sightings as misidentifications of more mundane objects,
outright hoaxes, and wishful thinking.

Featured image: A European eel with some fish in an aquarium;
most European eels grow to 23 to 31 inches (60 to 80 centimeters). (CC BY SA 3.0) Insert: A representation of Nessie at the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre in Drumnadrochit. (Public Domain)